Auf Wiedersehen, Max?

FIA supremo Max Mosley has apparently been filmed engaging in a five hour bondage torture session in a private S&M chamber with a group of prostitutes! And this wasn't just your average, run of the mill bondage marathon. Ohhhhhh no. This one involved Nazi death camp roleplay! You simply couldn't make it up!

I'll spare you the full graphic details, you can read for yourself by clicking the link below if you have the stomach for it. But to put it briefly, he plays the role of both torturer and prisoner throughout the debacle, speaking in German through much of it. He was flogged so hard his backside needed medical attention at one point, before taking turns at spanking a series of prostitutes dressed in 'prison camp' uniforms.

Clearly this is appalling to say the least. However, some of you may not know the full context to these revelations. Max Mosley is the son of the notorious Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists in the 1930s and a close personal friend of Adolf Hitler. Oswald Mosley was imprisoned during the war for his extreme views and his close personal ties with the Nazi party (indeed, Hitler and Goebbels were both guests at his wedding to Max's mother Diana Mitford), and his name is still to this day a by-word for extreme Fascism in the UK. Max has fought a constant battle to disassociate himself from his father's legacy, claiming that (quite rightly) a man should never be judged on the actions of his father. In fairness, he has been very successful in this. Up until now that is!

Now, Max Mosley has never been the most popular chap in the world of motorsport, often courting controversy with his single-minded authoritarian approach to ruling the sport. However, he has remained in charge for well over a decade and has many supporters who defend him by comparing his reign to that of his predecessor Jean Balestre, who was the most unpopular figure ever to hold the position. This controversy, though, will make anything else Mosley has faced in his career seem like a storm in a teacup. It is impossible to see him being able to continue in his role after these disclosures. Whether you now view him now as a figure of hate, or one merely of ridicule for his depraved actions, his position is in all probability untenable.

Link to the hideousness. WARNING: there are pictures and even a video, and they are NOT pretty! - News of the World article

An interesting perspective on how this had all come about relates back to the last big controversy that Mosley has had to deal with, the McLaren 'Spygate' scandal. Towards the end of 2007 Max Mosley announced that he was pursuing legal action against prominent F1 reporter Martin Brundle and The Times newspaper after an article by the former F1 ace published in the paper was critical of the way that Mosley handled the affair (see here for more). Mosley was openly furious that Brundle had presented him as being the leader of a witch hunt against the McLaren team. However, scratch the surface a little and we see that The Times newspaper is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News International and News Corporation. The News of the World is also part of the News International stable.

Knowing the, ahem, aggressive tactics of News International in the many, many legal actions they have contested over the years, it is not too great a leap of faith to imagine they would have been digging very hard to dish some kind of dirt on Mosley. It is often the best way to avoid such cases ever reaching court and getting messy. Judging by the way things have been filmed it just screams 'set up'. Max Mosley has taken the bait, been lured into the trap, and has given News International the jackpot they have been digging for!

I often feel a little bit of sympathy for the footballers and celebrities that end up getting ensnared by these little tabloid traps, but for some strange reason I'm not the least bit sympathetic! It couldn't have happened to a nicer person!